The nees@berkeley lab participated in the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) program at UC Berkeley again this summer. Over 200 high school students came to our lab for an afternoon of activities. The afternoon started with a lecture on earthquake engineering by student Nathan Langdon (first session) and graduate student Matthew Dryden (second session). They presented basics about earthquake engineering as well as earthquake safety.

The students were introduced to a project, building a structure with K'nex, to be tested on our small shaking table. The students broke into teams to build their structures. There were four different sets of instructions consisting of four different bracing designs. The most earthquake resistant structure (per testing group) and the most creative design overall would receive awards.

After the students completed their structures, they went on a tour of the lab. The students were broken up in to three groups (consisting of three building teams).

They toured the nees@berkeley lab, the EERC shaking table lab, watched videos of tests previously performed in our labs, including the NBC Dateline segment, and observed their structures being tested.

The first session was particularly fortunate as to visit on a day when some large-scale testing was underway. The students were able to observe an actual test of an electrical switch on the large shaking table.

Structures were placed on a small shaking table and tested with a harmonic signal. The frequency was slowly and gradually increased to demonstrate the resonant frequencies of the structures. The most earthquake resistant structure in each group, as judged by maximum relative acceleration of the top level, was determined. In addition, the most creative structure design was selected by nees@berkeley staff.

Certificates were awarded to the teams who built the winning structures. After completion of the program, the students returned to the U.C. Berkeley campus.